Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, has accused the Federal Government of marking him and his wife, Zeenat, for ‘passport flagging’ three months after the couple were discharged and acquitted of criminal charges by the Kaduna State High Court.
The couple, who lead the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, was
stopped from acquiring fresh international passports so that they could travel
overseas for medical attention after security operatives reportedly lost their
travel documents during their six years in detention.
Sheikh El-Zakzaky, who stated this on Sunday in an interview
with Press TV in Abuja, also accused the
government of refusing to disclose any reason for doing so.
According to him, they have no intention of fleeing from the
country since the Court had declared them innocent of the eight-count charge
brought against them.
Narrating his ordeal, the Islamic cleric said 38 bullet
fragments with dangerous levels of lead and cadmium were still lodged in his
cheek up to the head while his wife also bore a full bullet in her pelvis since
2015 which require urgent medical attention abroad.
He said, “We were shot severally, such shooting that a human
being cannot survive. They (security operatives) battered my right side, and
battered right eye. Around the head, from the cheek up to the head, they
counted about 38 fragments. Also, my wife has gunshot on her stomach and her
thigh.
“They took us to their hospital and somehow removed some of
the bullets without putting her under anaesthesia. It was later in another
hospital that more bullets were removed, and she still has one complete bullet
in her body, which found its place in her pelvis. And they said, at that time,
they could not remove it.
“Up till now, these fragments release poisons like lead and
cadmium. I am still living with some amount of those poisons in my body,
including the fragments of bullets. It’s the Will of Allah that I’m still
alive; because when they tested the level of lead in my body, at one time, it
was about 244, which they said a normal human being should contain only 10, but
I had 244 in my body. Well, that’s the will of God that I’m alive, anyway.
“On 28th July, this year, 2021, we were discharged and
acquitted, and we were exonerated from all the eight charges against us. At the
end of the day, it was found that none of us committed any offence, and then
they were ordered to pay compensation, yet nothing happens. None at all.
“They know that we have a health issue, but we were kept
with these difficulties incarcerated for almost 6 years. But, by the grace of
God, we survived it. Here (in Nigeria), they said they could not remove it, but
our doctors, who came from outside the country, studied the situation and said
they would be able to remove it.
“An order was given by the court of law, that we have the
right to seek this medical assistance outside Nigeria. We were thinking that
immediately we are out of the prison, it will not be a matter of days we will
leave this country. When we came out, we were hopping to get our passports
back.
“In fact, our lawyer, after they ruled that we were
discharged, went and begged the presiding judge to give an order that our
passports should be released to us because of our health problem. The judge
said that there was no need for him to give any order, because we have no
charges. We have been discharged. He said we were entitled to all our property.
The court doesn’t have to give orders.
“When we came out we were thinking in a matter of a week it
will be okay for us. But, up till now, the passports have not reached our hand.
At one time, the security operatives said they have lost the passports, and
they are no longer in their hands.
“So, we took steps to make another one. But, at the end of
the day, we were told that “passport
flagging” has been placed on us; meaning that the two of us have no right to
leave this country. We don’t know what for. At least, officially, they didn’t
say it.
“So the matter has not come to an end. We are still being,
in a way, incarcerated, because we are not allowed out of the country for no
reason.”
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